Line #57 Main/ChemistryCanDoAnything


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7	->''"Chemistry has it all: Mad scientists, world changing revelations, the practical, the impractical, medicine, bombs, food, beauty, destruction, life and death, answers to questions you never knew you had."''
8	-->-- '''Creator/HankGreen''', ''[[WebVideo/CrashCourse Crash Course Chemistry]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FSyAehMdpyI&ab_channel=CrashCourse #1]]''
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10	It's amazing what you can do with a few chemicals in a science fiction story. Mix a bit of Phlebotinum salt with a dash of suspension of disbelief, heat it to over 9000 degrees and you have yourself a "chemical substance" capable of whatever you want it to do. A character can down a shot of it, inject it into their body, pour it into a machine. In almost no circumstance will it make them throw up, kill them, or ruin the machine. Instead it will create whatever wondrous or horrible effect the author desires.
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12	See also: LightningCanDoAnything, RadiationInducedSuperpowers, QuantumMechanicsCanDoAnything, and ToxicWasteCanDoAnything. It is of course a form of AppliedPhlebotinum. JustForFun/SciFiCounterpart of AlchemyIsMagic. SuperTrope of SuperSerum, PsychoSerum, HollywoodAcid, and others.
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14	!!Examples:
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16	[[foldercontrol]]
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18	[[folder:Advertising]]
19	* Ionized jewelry such as [[https://www.amazon.co.uk/Satori-Negative-Germanium-Silicone-Wristband/dp/B01HF2ENGC/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_product_top?ie=UTF8 this]] claims to use 'negative ions' which are 'abundant in nature through plants, waterfalls, rainstorms, and forests' to help things like hay fever, asthma, the immune system, relaxation, sleep, energy levels, concentration, joint and muscle aches, and arthritis, by 'balancing you'. Website/{{Wikipedia}} [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ionized_jewelry says]] that any benefits from these are due to [[MagicFeather the placebo effect]].
20	[[/folder]]
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22	[[folder:Anime and Manga]]
23	* {{Justified\|Trope}} in ''Manga/DrStone''. All of Senku's experiments and inventions are [[ShownTheirWork grounded in real science]], and the author frequently breaks the fourth wall to explain the principles behind them.
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26	[[folder:Comic Books]]
27	* ''ComicBook/{{Batman}}'':
28	** The agreed-on origin for the Joker, who plummeted into a disposal tank full of various chemicals. In ''ComicBook/DeathOfTheFamily'', Batman asides that he's studied the crime scene and knows the mixture by heart, but on sleepless nights finds himself poring over the list all over again. A combination like that should have eaten the Joker ''alive''. (Batman gets trapped in the very same tank by ComicBook/HarleyQuinn, and the chemical mixture chews straight through his Batsuit.)
29	** One possible origin for the Joker reveals him to be an ex-chemist, which would explain his expertise in poison and acid weapons. His patented "Joker" venom leaves the victim with a [[FrozenFace rictus smile]] -- the clown's {{calling card}}.
30	* ComicBook/CaptainAmerica gets his powers from a "[[SuperSerum super-soldier formula]]". Later, the treatment was elaborated with a radiological treatment to activate and stabilize the chemicals.
31	* ComicBook/{{Daredevil}} gets his powers from [[RadiationInducedSuperpowers radioactive]] chemicals he's exposed to after a car accident.
32	* ''ComicBook/TheFlash'':
33	** The [[UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfComicBooks Golden Age]] Flash, Jay Garrick, got his powers from fumes given off by "hard water" spilled in a chemistry lab. In RealLife, hard water is simply water which contains calcium or magnesium ions, so the most it would really be able to do is give off steam.
34	** The [[UsefulNotes/TheSilverAgeOfComicBooks Silver Age]] Flash, Barry Allen, got his powers from a chemical rack being [[LightningCanDoAnything struck by lightning]].
35	[[/folder]]
36
37	[[folder:Fan Works]]
38	* In ''[[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Fanfic/RipplesinthePond Ripples in the Pond]]'', a ''Manga/OnePiece'' SelfInsertFic, Evan manages to make his nunchucks into a material similar to seastone by forcing water molecules to bind with the iron molecules.
39	[[/folder]]
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41	[[folder:Films -- Animation]]
42	* Honey Lemon in ''WesternAnimation/BigHero6'' has a purse which functions as a compound mixer, creating throwable chemical balls that can do whatever she needs them to do. This can range from restraining gel to powerful explosives.
43	[[/folder]]
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45	[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
46	* ''Film/TheAdultVersionOfJekyllAndHide'': A formula can work miracles, including turn you into a woman, with a totally different stature, much younger, with longer hair and make-up.
47	* ''Film/SexualChemistry'': The key to this film's plot is a drug that not only transform the user into the opposite sex, but makes them younger, grows their hair and nails (and massive breasts), and epilates their body. It also seems to apply makeup. Given that the formula involved input from someone who's specifically stated to be a witch, the writers evidently had to admit that this looked more like magic than science.
48	[[/folder]]
49
50	[[folder:Literature]]
51	[[AC:Examples by author:]]
52	* Creator/IsaacAsimov, who himself was a professor of biochemistry, once wrote a series of satirical articles about the "endochronic properties" of "resublimated thiotimoline", a substance that dissolves in water ''before'' the water is added.[[note]]The article was published shortly before his dissertation defense, and to his horror, one of the examiners actually said "Mr. Asimov, I have a few questions regarding thiotimoline." Fortunately for him, his dissertation committee thought the article was a hilarious send-up of the stuffy sort of writing used in scientific journals.[[/note]]
53	[[AC:Examples by work:]]
54	* ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doctor_Omega Doctor Omega]]'' by Arnould Galopin provides a rare example using metallurgy rather than liquid chemicals. Apparently, the secret to antigravity is just smelting [[AndSomeOtherStuff some metal]] until it starts being [[ArtisticLicensePhysics repelled by gravity rather than attracted to it]] -- but if you don't smelt it ''just right'', [[MadeOfExplodium your workshop explodes]].
55	* The [[IncredibleShrinkingMan shrinking]] and [[AttackOfThe50FootWhatever growing]] formulas from the Golden Age science fiction [[https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/21094 novel]] ''The Girl in the Golden Atom''. The really screwy part is that he can find the perfect chemicals to resize himself when he's allegedly in a subatomic environment.
56	* In ''Literature/HerbertWestReanimator'', bringing fresh corpses back to life merely requires the injection of the right chemicals. Apparently, these chemicals diffuse very quickly, since they'd be injected into a body with no blood circulating.
57	* Most potions in ''Literature/ImpracticalMagic'' are not magical, but abuse chemistry in one way or another. A "stamina potion" is just a fancy way of saying bottle of caffeine and amphetamines.
58	* ''Literature/TheInvisibleMan'': The title character's invisibility is chemical in nature. The formula "entails taking opium and another drug, which makes his blood boil, then processing his body in a radiator engine." Wells' Griffin was already psychologically unstable before the process, but cooking the brain a couple different ways probably didn't help.
59	* When Ben and Daniel are breaking out of prison in ''Literature/TheLeonardRegime'', they stumble across a lab full of chemicals. Ben, knowing what the chemicals were, managed to create a mixture that could kill all of the guards when breathed in.
60	* In "Literature/TheManWhoEvolved" by Creator/EdmondHamilton, a man who goes through [[EvolutionPowerUp accelerated]] [[GoalOrientedEvolution evolution]] shows off his increased intelligence by making ''gold'' out of common chemicals. {{Justified\|Trope}} -- up to a point -- as SuperIntelligence would make him capable of things that are impossible according to normal science.
61	* In one of Norman Hunter's ''Professor Branestawm'' stories, a formula that can bring pictures to life comes in contact with some old photos, resulting in multiple copies of himself, Colonel Dedshott and Mrs. Flittersnoop and, in a particularly comic case, a half-policeman who was in one shot by mistake. (He keeps hopping around the house saying "Pass along p--", which is all he can manage of what the real policeman had been saying when he was caught on film.)
62	* In an interesting invocation of the trope, ''[[Literature/SkylarkSeries The Skylark of Space]]'' (one of the earliest {{Space Opera}}s) begins with the discovery of a transuranic element which catalyzes a direct matter-to-energy conversion, with the energy emerging as a form of propulsion (as well as several other useful forms).
63	* A classic example is the potion from ''Literature/TheStrangeCaseOfDrJekyllAndMrHyde'' that causes the transformation. The potion is made from a 'blood-red liquor' called a 'tincture' and a 'crystalline salt of a white colour'.
64	[[/folder]]
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66	[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
67	* In ''Series/FamilyMatters'', Urkel creates a machine that can create clones or turn people into other people (e.g., Steve Urkel into [[SexierAlterEgo Stephan]]). It required vaguely described "chemicals" to work, which were poured into a slot in the machine.
68	* ''Series/LookAroundYou'' ascribes several ridiculous properties to chemicals such as a mixture of sulphur and champagne granting the drinker EyeBeams. Of course, this is all [[LittleKnownFacts part of the joke]].
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71	[[folder:Video Games]]
72	* ''VideoGame/{{Creatures}}'' uses "chemicals" for monitoring most of the Creature's inner workings -- metabolism, antigens and antibodies, drives like hunger and ''adopting a right kind of gait for each type of terrain''. In some installments of the game, the player can directly inject any of these chemicals in their Creatures, allowing almost anything from clinical immortality to horrible, painful death.
73	* ''VideoGame/EscapeFromStMarys'': The chemistry department brews teleportation mixtures from chemicals that you find and distill.
74	* ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'':
75	** In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyV'', the Chemist class is considered a GameBreaker by experts because of its [[ComboPlatterPowers variety of powers]]: [[LifeDrain HP Drain]], loads of status buffs, debuffs, and plenty of tools that make the game a walk in the park. They're a GuideDangIt, though, as the game doesn't tell you the ingredients for their Mixes.
76	** Mixing returns in the ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyX'' series and is just as strong, and is the key to many {{Self Imposed Challenge}}s.
77	* ''VideoGame/PaperMarioTheThousandYearDoor'':
78	** Peach mixes chemicals in the proper proportions and heats the mixture for just the right duration to get an invisibility potion that -- once she gets naked -- allows her to sneak around the fortress and get data from a disk in Grodus' room.
79	** X-Naut [=PhDs=] make various potions that X-Nauts use in battle to: restore HP; grow themselves (a buff); shrink the enemy (a debuff), set the enemy on fire (persistent damage), and more.
80	* The various potions you can mix with the chemistry set in ''VideoGame/TheSims''.
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83	[[folder:Webcomics]]
84	* Shows up often in ''Webcomic/AxeCop''. This being Axe Cop, it's often [[http://axecop.com/comic/episode-89/ taken beyond the impossible]].
85	* In ''Webcomic/{{Tetsuko}}'', there is an "anti-aging" formula created by Dr. Sonya Gannon that made her lab assistant (the titular character) [[StatuesqueStunner tall]], [[AmazonianBeauty muscular]], and [[SuperStrength super-strong]] (even though [[PhlebotinumBreakdown that wasn't its intended purpose]]).
86	[[/folder]]
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88	[[folder:Western Animation]]
89	* In ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDragonJakeLong'', Spud goes to a school for child geniuses. In a chemistry demonstration, one student makes a floating cloud in the shape of Pi, and another manages to rapidly grow a statue of the teacher.
90	* ''WesternAnimation/FiremanSam'': In one of the original stop-motion episodes, Norman Price gets hold of a seemingly quite ordinary children's chemistry set. He somehow manages to use the contents to create a small explosion and a cloud of toxic fumes so potent that the local fire brigade need full breathing apparatus to enter the room.
91	* Chemical X in ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls1998'' -- it has the power to create life, give any living being superpowers with no side-effects, and apparently, it's in abundant enough quantities to be regularly abused.
92	* Abused by Dr. Viper in ''WesternAnimation/SwatKats'', with mutagenic chemicals called "Katalysts" which seem to produce same-generation mutations and cause creatures to grow many times their size on simple contact.
93	* ''WesternAnimation/TheTransformers'': The episode "The Insecticon Syndrome" has Ratchet and Wheeljack formulate an antidote to the Nova Power Core that is about to explode in the Insecticons' stomachs, to stop them from blowing up and destroying most of Earth.
94	[[/folder]]
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96	[[folder:Real Life]]
97	* When you think about it, plain-old ''water'' could be looked at as a phlebotinum. Ask any chemist if water is a particularly special chemical, and they might go on for minutes about how frickin' weird a chemical it is. And given how ever-present it is on Earth, how useful it is for so many things, and how it allows for and plays so many different roles in chemical life, one even starts to realize that some green-rocks aren't this weird.
98	* ''TruthInTelevision'' as all matter in the universe is made up of chemicals. Chemistry is the basis of all life on Earth. In terms of what can happen in the universe as we know it, chemistry really ''can'' do almost anything. Or to put it another way, anything that can be done ''is'' chemistry.
99	* In fact, almost all of the ''applied phlebotinum'' we have today is the result of Chemistry, and even the bits that are physics require stuff made from chemicals in order to work. Examples include soap, detergents, sugar, molasses, alcoholic beverage, rubber, plastics, steel, gunpowder, separated crude oil, medicine... the list goes on.
100	* The American Chemical Society used to (and may still) give out sheets of stickers most of which read "THIS is a result of CHEMISTRY". There are also a couple per sheet that say "This is NOT a result of chemistry... OR IS IT?"
101	[[/folder]]

Context Main / ChemistryCanDoAnything